Yankees beat Pirates as Aaron Judge hits sixth homer in seven games
The Yankees' Aaron Judge, left, celebrates with Ben Rice after hitting a two-run home run off Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Tim Mayza during the seventh inning of a game in Pittsburgh on Friday. Credit: AP/Gene J. Puskar
PITTSBURGH — The Yankees put away the heavy lumber (other than Aaron Judge) for one afternoon.
It mattered not in the least. Taking advantage of sloppy Pirates pitching and fielding, the Yankees racked up 13 hits, including Judge’s MLB-leading sixth homer, six walks and three hit batsmen in a 9-4 victory Friday in front of a frustrated home-opener crowd of 36,893 at PNC Park.
No. 9 hitter Oswaldo Cabrera led the Yankees (5-2) — who have hit an MLB-record 23 homers and scored 62 runs in their first seven games — with three hits and four RBIs. Anthony Volpe had three hits and an RBI, Jasson Dominguez added two hits and two RBIs and Paul Goldschmidt also had two hits.
The bottom four hitters in the lineup went 9-for-15 with two doubles, seven RBIs and five runs scored.
“It was impressive, starting right at the bottom with Cabrera,” Judge said. “The game he had for us — four RBIs, hitting the ball all over the field, taking good at-bats. When you have a guy like that down there that can turn the lineup over and get it to Benny [leadoff man Ben Rice] and me and Jazz [Chisholm Jr.], that makes for a long night for a starting pitching. That’s how we’re able to wear down so many pitchers.”
Judge has been doing that for pretty much the entirety of his career, which very much is on a Hall of Fame trajectory. He launched a two-run homer to right-center in the seventh off lefthander Tim Mayza, who allowed home run No. 61 during his historic 2022 season.
It took Judge 29 games to reach six homers last season, an MVP season in which he hit 58. It also marked his 502nd career extra-base hit, in his 1,000th career game, and gave the Yankees a 9-1 lead.
When Judge hit his fifth homer of the season Thursday in career game No. 999, he reached 500 extra-base hits the third-fastest in franchise history, trailing Lou Gehrig (874 games) and Joe DiMaggio (853 games).
“He’s this generation’s one of [its] greatest players. It’s a no-brainer,” Aaron Boone said of Judge and the Hall of Fame.
Judge, as expected, wasn’t going there.
“It’s great praise,” he said with a smile. “But I live in the present. We’ve got things to do. A lot of work to do, so we’ll talk about that in a couple of years.”
In the bottom of the first, Judge awkwardly banged into the rightfield wall — leading with his left arm and shoulder — in making a catch on a drifting fly ball by Ke’Bryan Hayes, but he appeared to be OK.
Boone, who bolted several steps outside the dugout upon seeing that Judge was slow to get up, called it a “tense moment.”
Judge said “we’re good” and that it was “a bad read on me.”
“They’ve got a bigger warning track, so I thought I was right by the wall,” he said. “I’ve got to make that look a little more graceful next time.”
Lefthander Max Fried, who signed an eight-year, $218 million free-agent deal over the winter, picked up his first win as a Yankee, allowing one run, six hits and a walk in 5 2⁄3 innings in which he struck out six. Fernando Cruz allowed a three-run homer by Hayes in garbage time in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-4.
The Pirates (2-6), playing in front of a fan base disgruntled and disgusted with an ownership group that did little in the offseason despite having a once-in-a-generation pitcher in Paul Skenes to build around, were non-competitive in committing two errors, hitting three batters and walking six. Chants of “Sell the team! Sell the team!” reverberated throughout the ballpark all afternoon.
Trent Grisham walked in the second, Dominguez doubled into the rightfield corner and Cabrera lined a two-run single to left-center to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. Dominguez and Cabrera had two-out RBI singles in the third that made it 4-0.
Volpe got hit on the left forearm with a 93-mph fastball from Mitch Keller with two outs in the third, sparking a two-run rally that made it 4-0, and the Yankees coasted from there.
“It’s been incredible, especially early runs,” Fried said of the offensive support. “It takes a lot off of me, where I know I can be a little more aggressive. When they’re swinging the bat well, your job is just try to get back in the dugout as quick as possible.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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